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The US Capitol dome is seen on December on 17, 2010 in Washington, DC. Congress is still working through a number of issues, particularly that of funding the federal government after its current money runs out at late Saturday night, December 18. The current plan is to pass a continuing resolution (CR) to pay for government operations for another five days - forcing the House to return next week and take whatever next step is agreed upon with the Senate. AFP PHOTO/Karen BLEIER (Photo credit should read KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images)

Jamie Weinstein

Jamie Weinstein is Senior Editor of The Daily Caller. His work has appeared in The Weekly Standard, the New York Daily News and The Washington Examiner, among many other publications. He also worked as the Collegiate Network Journalism Fellow at Roll Call Newspaper and is the winner of the 2011 "Funniest Celebrity in Washington" contest. A regular on Fox News and other cable news outlets, Weinstein received a master’s degree in the history of international relations from the London School of Economics in 2009 and a bachelor's degree in history and government from Cornell University in 2006. He is the author of the political satire, "The Lizard King: The Shocking Inside Account of Obama's True Intergalactic Ambitions by an Anonymous White House Staffer."

As the focus to prevent the United States from falling off the so-called fiscal cliff turns to the Senate, a top Democratic aide tells the New York Times that not much is really going on there.

“It’s hard to overstate how little is going on,” the aide, described by the Times as “a senior Democratic leadership aide,” said. The aide also told the Times that senators were admitting in private that they do not expect a deal to be reached before $600 billion dollars worth of tax increases and spending cuts automatically kick in at the beginning of 2013.

But senators are not only admitting as much in private.

Independent Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman told CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday that he now believes that no deal will be reached in time to avoid the fiscal cliff.

“It’s the first time that I feel it’s more likely that we will go over the cliff than not,” he said, as reported by CNBC.

“If we allow that to happen it will be the most colossal consequential act of congressional irresponsibility in a long time, maybe ever in American history.”

Republican Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso said on Fox News Sunday that not only did he think that there would be no deal to avert the fiscal cliff, but that he believed that President Barack Obama wants to go over it.

“I think the president is eager to go over the cliff for political purposes. I think he sees a political victory at the bottom of the cliff,” he said.

With talks between himself and President Obama stalled, House Speaker John Boehner sought to pass his “Plan B” through the House last week, which would have kept the Bush tax rates for everyone making under $1 million a year in place. He ultimately abandoned the plan when it became clear he did not have enough support within the Republican caucus to pass it.

On Friday, the day after Boehner’s very public failure, Obama gave a short statement before heading to Hawaii for the Christmas holiday, calling on Congress to work toward a smaller deal to avert the fiscal cliff.

“In the next few days, I’ve asked leaders of Congress to work towards a package that prevents a tax hike on middle-class Americans, protects unemployment insurance for 2 million Americans, and lays the groundwork for further work on both growth and deficit reduction,” he said. “That’s an achievable goal. That can get done in 10 days.”

But with the focus now on the Senate, the New York Times reports that Democrats will only put forth legislation if they can be guaranteed by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell that the bill won’t be filibustered by Republicans and that Boehner will bring it to a vote in the House when passed.

A spokesman for McConnell, Don Stewart, told the Times that McConnell didn’t have the power to unilaterally declare that no filibuster would occur. He added that the ball was now in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s court to propose something.

“Reid is the majority leader. Maybe for once he could propose something that he actually thinks could pass,” he said.

But according Republican Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, the proverbial ball doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.